It's no joke: You really can hunt snipe, and you can do it now

Sep. 4, 2013

The common snipe can be hunted through Dec. 16. / Missouri Department of Conservation

Written by

Francis

SKALICKY

This is a good time of the year to reiterate the two nature facts nobody believes when they hear them. They are:

Yes, there really is such a thing as a snipe and ...

Yes, in Missouri, you really can go on a snipe hunt.

Contrary to what many people believe, there is a bird called a snipe. Not only can this bird be found in Missouri, it can be hunted here as well.

One of the state’s lesser-known hunting events, snipe season, opened Sunday and runs through Dec. 16. The bag limit is eight, and the possession limit is 24.

Missouri residents who wish to hunt snipe need a small-game hunting permit if they’re ages 16-64 and a migratory bird permit. (The exemption to this regulation is resident landowners hunting snipe on their own land. They do not need a small-game hunting permit, but the migratory bird hunting permit is required.)

How the pursuit of this long-beaked shorebird came to be associated with the well-known prank of getting naïve people lost in the woods is a mystery.

Snipe hunting — the kind you do with shotguns, not gunny sacks — was more popular in the 1800s than now. The bird’s explosive takeoff and rapid zigzag flight when flushed made it a challenging target for wingshooters.

As the pursuit of quail, mourning dove, grouse and other game birds increased in popularity, snipe gradually slipped into hunting obscurity.

Today, there aren’t many hunters who pursue this bird. But snipe still migrate each fall and can be an unusual sight for the novice nature watcher or the casual birder. Here are some snipe facts:

• The common snipe, also called Wilson’s snipe, is one of 81 sandpiper species — the sandpiper being the largest family of the shorebird group. Snipe are usually found in marshes or other wetland habitats. They’re approximately 10 inches long and are brown with buff-colored stripes on the back and a striped head. Like other sandpipers, snipe have relatively long wings and short tails.

• The most distinguishing characteristic of the common snipe is its long, straight bill. This comes in handy when the birds are probing the mud for insects, snails and small crustaceans.

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• Even people who don’t live near marshes can sometimes see snipe in the fall. Snipe can occasionally be seen on fence posts near wet fields or other low-lying areas that are barely flooded. The combination of its small body and long beak makes a snipe fairly easy to recognize from most other birds — although they’re sometimes confused with the American woodcock and the long-billed dowitcher; two other long-beaked birds that migrate through Missouri in the fall.

• The reason Missouri’s snipe season is in the fall is because that is when the bird can be found in this region in abundance. During the nesting season of late spring and summer, snipe can be found in their breeding range in Canada and the northern United States. Fall migrations move snipe to a wintering area that extends roughly from mid-Missouri to the Gulf of Mexico.

More information about snipe and snipe hunting — as well as other game birds — can be found in the Missouri Department of Conservation’s “2013 Migratory Bird Hunting Digest,” a free publication available at most Conservation offices and places that sell hunting permits. You can also learn about snipe and other Missouri birds at www.missouriconservation.org.